An Improved Measurement Technique for Atmospheric Attenuation of Laser Transmittance

It is understood that the characteristics of the atmospheric attenuation materials (haze, smoke, dust or aerosol) are important factors for applications such as military conflict, environmental protection and prevention of forest fire. However, the current atmospheric attenuation measurement method for laser transmittance could not achieve accurate results because it does not take the fluctuation of the laser pulse energy into account. In order to overcome such problem, a new test scheme and data processing method is designed. To take the laser energy fluctuation into consideration, a beam splitter and a laser receiver are added to the traditional design for monitoring the change of laser energy. Therefore, the emitting energy of the laser pulse is monitored and it can be used for inverse data processing for far field reception energy. Finally, the measurement accuracy of the transmittance is significantly improved and reliable data are provided to decision makers.